Introduction

I, the participant, confirm that: I have read and understood the study information. My questions have been answered completely and to my satisfaction. I am aware of the requirements and restrictions to be observed during the study. I have had enough time to decide on my participation. I participate in this study voluntarily and consent that my data be used as described above.

During this experiment, we will ask you to vote in different ways in the context of Participatory Budgeting. Before you vote, we want to first introduce the idea of Participatory Budgeting and voting mechanisms.

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(Image: The PB process. Source: Participatory Budgeting Project).

Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which citizens directly decide how to spend part of a public budget. This has been used in 3000+ cities around the world in recent years, including Zürich, Lausanne, Lucerne & Geneva in Switzerland. Participants can propose, debate, and vote on projects that they believe will improve their city or neighbourhood. Usually, ideas are submitted by the residents of the city and developed on a digital platform, then, the residents vote online on feasible proposals. The proposals that receive more support than others are implemented by the city. 

According to the description, who gets to decide how the budget is used in a Participatory Budgeting program?

Unlike normal elections or referendums, in Participatory Budgeting (PB), voters are usually allowed to vote for multiples options, and within the budget constraint, multiple proposals can win the required funding. This is called "Multi-winner voting".

The voting process consists of two parts:

(1) Voting input, or how people select projects on the ballots;
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 (2) Voting aggregation, how the votes are counted and calculated based on how people vote. Shown in the following outcome table Lausanne city published, 12 of the 21 projects were selected and won the budget they proposed after the vote in 2022. 
Graphic.php?IM=IM_9oGSRxXwVqS1LxQ
(Lausanne Participe: https://participer.lausanne.ch/processes/budget-participatif-2022/f/97/)

Ideally, the outcome of the vote reflects the preferences and concerns of citizens.

Today, you will be voting as a citizen in several Participatory Budgeting scenarios, rating multiple voting inputs and voting aggregation methods. Your final compensation will be determined by some of your choices. 

Did you know about Participatory Budgeting before today?

Nord 10%

Participatory Budgeting in Limmatstadt

Here's the first vote. Imagine you live in a city called "Limmatstadt". The city has 3 different main districts: Nord, Süd and West.

You live in the Nord district.

The distribution of the city population is listed as follows: Nord: 10% of the city's population Süd: 30% of the city's population West: 60% of the city's population Graphic.php?IM=IM_6sV5UQ9RG4oPP02
Now the city is hosting a Participatory Budgeting program to decide how to spend a part of the city's budget. Building new parks is the only kind of project that is proposed. All the parks cost the same. You, along with other citizens of Limmatstadt, need to decide which park projects should be funded. You love the city and you feel particularly connected to the area you live in. Out of the 20 projects proposed, the city only has enough budget for 10 parks to be built. You get to vote for which park projects should be funded.

First of all, what is the percentage of population living in the district you're assigned to?

Sud 30%

Participatory Budgeting in Limmatstadt

Here's the first vote. Imagine you live in a city called "Limmatstadt". The city has 3 different main districts: Nord, Süd and West.

You live in the Süd district.

The distribution of the city population is listed as follows: Nord: 10% of the city's population Süd: 30% of the city's population West: 60% of the city's population
Graphic.php?IM=IM_6hzL290OoaP2IvA

Now the city is hosting a Participatory Budgeting program to decide how to spend a part of the city's budget. Building new parks is the only kind of project that is proposed. All the parks cost the same. You, along with other citizens of Limmatstadt, need to decide which park projects should be funded. You love the city and you feel particularly connected to the area you live in. Out of the 20 projects proposed, the city only has enough budget for 10 parks to be built. You get to vote for which park projects should be funded.

First of all, what is the percentage of population living in the district you're assigned to?

West 60%

Participatory Budgeting in Limmatstadt

Here's the first vote. Imagine you live in a city called "Limmatstadt". The city has 3 different main districts: Nord, Süd and West.

You live in the West district.

The distribution of the city population is listed as follows: Nord: 10% of the city's population Süd: 30% of the city's population West: 60% of the city's population Graphic.php?IM=IM_baw6PeTbDg0edBY
Now the city is hosting a Participatory Budgeting program to decide how to spend a part of the city's budget. Building new parks is the only kind of project that is proposed. All the parks cost the same. You, along with other citizens of Limmatstadt, need to decide which park projects should be funded. You love the city and you feel particularly connected to the area you live in. Out of the 20 projects proposed, the city only has enough budget for 10 parks to be built. You get to vote for which park projects should be funded.

First of all, what is the percentage of population living in the district you're assigned to?

District Vote

Select any number of projects
In this first vote, you can select any number of park projects. Think about what projects you would support as a resident of your district living at point A.

Distribute 10 points
Now, vote again in the same program, but in a different way. In this vote, you can assign 10 points across the projects you prefer based on the intensity of your preference. For example, you can use all your 10 points in one project or distribute them across several projects. Again, in this case, you are voting as a resident living at point A in your district.

District Outcome

Limmatstadt Result: Outcome A and outcome B
Here is a simulated result. In this simulated result, it is assumed that the 200 Limmatstadt voters, each with 3 votes, all exclusively voted for projects in their own districts.

On the right of the table, there is the voting result. You can see the number of votes each project received in the simulation.
The left two columns display the two possible ways that projects can be selected: outcome A and outcome B;

The 20 projects are ordered by the number of votes. For example, West parks 11 and 14 at the top won the most votes, whereas Nord parks 1, 2, and 3 at the bottom won the least votes. 

Both outcome A and outcome B contain 10 winning projects. But they select winning projects according to different rules. 
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How much do you understand this table?

This is the same table from the previous page. ​​​​​​​ Look at the 10 projects selected in outcome A and outcome B carefully.  How satisfied are you with outcome A and outcome B respectively as the Limmatstadt city resident who just voted in the program?
      Extremely dissatisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied Somewhat satisfied Extremely satisfied
   
   

As mentioned, the Nord, Süd, and West district each contain 10%, 30% & 60% of the city's population. Based on the information you have (population, votes, districts), how fair do you feel the two different outcomes are?
      Extremely unfair Somewhat unfair Neither fair nor unfair Somewhat fair Extremely fair
   
   

Vote Zürich

Before we start, think about how much you care about the following 3 topics of urban projects based on your interest in the city. You have 100 points to distribute as intensity of your preference. 

Now, the city of Zürich is divided into 4 districts: Nord, Ost, Süd & West. Out of the 4 districts, select the district that you perhaps live in or one that you feel connected to the most. Even if you don't live in Zürich, you can also pick your favourite district based on your experience, or one that you spend the most time in.
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To what extent do you feel connected with the city of Zürich?

A. Select any number of projects
Here, in this vote, you can select all the projects you approve of. Your vote will be perfectly valid no matter if you vote for many or for few projects.

B. Select 5 projects
Now, vote again in the same program. This time, select exactly 5 projects.

C. Spread 5 points
Now, vote again in the same program. In this vote, you distribute 5 points among the projects you like. You can concentrate your points on one project, or spread them across a few projects.

D. Spread 10 points
Now, vote again in the same program. In this vote, you have to distribute 10 points among the projects you like.

F. Select 5 and distribute 10 points
Now these are the 5 projects you previously selected. Distribute 10 points across the 5 projects. 

Rate Input

You have just tried 6 different voting input methods. Based on your fresh memory and impression, please rate these methods accordingly. How difficult do you find using each of the voting input methods? 
      Extremely easy Somewhat easy Neither easy nor difficult Somewhat difficult Extremely difficult
   
   
   
   
   
   

How well does each voting input method capture your actual preferences for these projects?
      Does not describe my preference Slightly describes my preference Moderately describes my preference Mostly describes my preference Clearly describes my preference
   
   
   
   
   
   

What voting input method would you recommend a city to use in a Participatory Budgeting program? Rank the input methods accordingly, with your most recommended input method on top.

  • 1 A. Select any number of projects
  • 2 D. Distribute 10 points
  • 3 B. Select 5 projects
  • 4 E. Select 5 and rank
  • 5 C. Distribute 5 points
  • 6 F. Select 5 and distribute 10 points

How important was each of the following factors in your ranking of the voting input methods?
      Not at all important Slightly important Moderately important Very important Extremely important
   
   
   
   

For the point distribution voting inputs, what's the number of points you would recommend the city to use?

Self-assessment

How popular do you think your selection of projects would be among other participants?

How important were the following project characteristics when you decided which projects to vote for?
      Not important at all Slightly important Moderately important Very important Extremely important
   
   
   
   
Zürich Outcome 1

Simulated Zürich outcome  
This is a simulated result of the Zürich Participatory Budgeting program, based on a voting simulation assuming that there are equal numbers of voters having preferences for each district and category. The projects are ordered according to the number of votes in this table.

Outcome A selects the projects in blue. Outcome B selects the projects in orange. The projects in outcome A cost 60k in total. The projects in outcome B also cost 60k in total. Outcome A consists of 7 projects and outcome B consists of 10 projects.
Graphic.php?IM=IM_3f6MPfrIexKzcEK
To what extent do you think you understand the information in this table?

Zürich Outcome 2

Simulated Zürich outcome  
This is a simulated result of the Zürich Participatory Budgeting program, based on a voting simulation assuming that there are equal numbers of voters having preferences for each district and category. The projects are ordered according to the number of votes in this table.

Outcome A selects the projects in blue. Outcome B selects the projects in orange. The projects in outcome A cost 60k in total. The projects in outcome B also cost 60k in total. Outcome A consists of 9 projects and outcome B consists of 11 projects.
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To what extent do you think you understand the information in this table?

Rate 1

Say one of these outcome is to be realised by the city. Considering how you voted, how satisfied are you with these two different outcomes? 
      Extremely dissatisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied Somewhat satisfied Extremely satisfied
   
   

How fair do you perceive the two outcomes?
      Extremely unfair Somewhat unfair Neither fair or unfair Somewhat fair Extremely fair
   
   

Say outcome A and B were produced using aggregation method A and B respectively. Based on your intuition, how trustworthy do you perceive these two aggregation methods? 
      Strongly disagree Somewhat disagree Neither agree nor disagree Somewhat agree Strongly agree
   
   

Explain: Mechanism

Method A

In Method A, the projects are selected simply based on the numbers of votes and total available budget. In each step, the method picks the most popular project that the remaining budget can fund. If the remaining available budget is not enough to fund the project, then the project is skipped. For example, the third most popular project in the following diagram is skipped as the remaining 50 CHF is not enough to fund the 60 CHF project. The process ends when no projects can be funded with the remaining budget.

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To what extent do you think you understand this explanation of Method A? 

Method B

In the vote calculation of Method B, the total budget is divided so that each voter is assigned a hypothetical budget share to fund projects. The budget share assigned to a voter can only be used to fund projects that the voter has voted for. Method B goes through all project proposals, beginning with the projects with the highest number of votes. It selects a project if it can be funded using the budget shares of those who voted for the project. The method divides the cost of a project equally among its supporters.
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To what extent do you think you understand this explanation of Method B?

Explain: Individual Distribution 

To what extent do you think you understand the information here?

A portion of the extra reward you will receive corresponds to the budget won by a random voter in this step. Your previous votes do not matter here. Simply based on your current understanding of the budget distribution on this page, decide which outcome you would choose to be realised as a random voter in this simulation.

Explain: Group Distribution

To what extent do you think you understand the information here?

Rate 2

Now after the explanation, how well do you feel like you understand Method A and the Method B?
      Not well at all Slightly well Moderately well Very well Extremely well
   
   

Now, how fair do you perceive the two outcomes?
      Extremely unfair Somewhat unfair Neither fair nor unfair Somewhat fair Extremely fair
   
   

How trustworthy do you think these two aggregation methods are? 
      Not at all trustworthy Somewhat not trustworthy Neither not trustworthy nor trustworthy Somewhat trustworthy Very trustworthy
   
   

Under which aggregation method do you think it is more likely that none of the projects you voted for are winning the budget?

Under which aggregation method do you think it is more likely that all of the projects you voted for are winning the budget?

Which aggregation method do you think would give all your fellow participants in this experiment a more equal compensation?

Final decision

Voting Aggregation Method
So, do you want the winning projects to be selected based on Method A or Method B?

How important is each of the following factors in your decision on voting aggregation method?
      Not at all important Slightly important Moderately important Very important Extremely important
   
   
   
   
   

Voting Input Method
Which of your voting input selection would you prefer to be used for the calculation of your compensation pay-off? Please choose one.